Colt Crawford - Chapter 13 (Thursday)

Don't forget that today is voting day. If you have read this during the voting period before and not voted, now is your chance to redeem yourself. The buttons are on the right. Enjoy!

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Colt’s side of the car was undamaged, but Krissy’s side was pinned against the tree. “Are you hurt?” he asked.

“Not bad,” Krissy said, “But I’m sure I’ll be sore tomorrow.”

Colt glanced around and saw no other cars on the dark road. “I think we are going to need a ride.” He pulled his phone from his pocket and made a call. “This will be a busy place in a few minutes.” As they sat in the darkness, safely strapped inside the damaged car, Colt reached his hand toward the black button on the dash. To his surprise, it worked. The motor began its faint hum and the top began to tuck neatly away behind the rear seat. “Might as well enjoy the stars.”

Krissy smiled as she looked up. “That makes it a little easier for me to get out too.” Colt slid his hand over toward Krissy and let it rest on hers. She felt the comforting squeeze and was thankful she was not alone. A thin smile spread across her face as she looked directly at Colt. The couple sat in silence as they waited for the arrival of flashing lights to come to the rescue.

Wednesday morning was rough. As a precaution, both Colt and Krissy had been taken to the hospital for an evaluation. They were released at 3:00 in the morning and both were ready for bed. “I’ll get us a ride,” Krissy said. “I happen to know people who are awake this time of day.” She pulled out her phone and made a quick call.

Colt was grateful when the officer dropped him off at the hotel. With eyes half shut and soreness setting in, he made his way up to his room. It only took a minute for him to give in to the call of sleep. It had been a long day.

The sound of the waves crashing on the shore provided a soothing accompaniment to the glow of the morning sun as its warm rays crept around the edges of the hotel curtain casting a dim light into the darkened room. Colt rolled over and stared at the clock for several minutes before the numbers came into focus. It was just after 9:00, yet it felt like the middle of the night.

Despite his muddled head, Colt decided to get up and face the day. After pulling the curtain back and allowing the sun to fully illuminate the room, Colt took a quick shower and decided that he had better find a place to rent a car. His iPhone provided him with a list of choices and after only a few minutes he had a car reserved a few blocks inland.

After a quick bite to eat at the continental breakfast bar, Colt began the short walk to the rental agency. His muscles were tight in places and his left knee had some bruising, but other than that, he was fine. The sun was warm despite the cool air and Colt was beginning to feel refreshed. His mind ticked off what he knew about the accident and the more he thought about it, the more he wanted to find Jailene Arroyo. A block later he began forming a list of all the things he would need to do now that his car had been wrecked. He would have to start with the insurance company.

By the time he reached the next intersection his mind had drifted to the “what if” stage. What if the accident had been worse. What if someone had been hurt? What if Krissy had gone to the chief's alone? He grew angry as he thought about what could have happened.

It didn’t take long for him to transition to the “why” stage in his mind. Why did this happen? Did God want it to happen? Did God make it happen? His anger intensified as he thought. It was not anger at God, he was angry that someone had tried to hurt him and Krissy and he became determined to hunt the person down at all costs.

Then his mind flashed back to the verse he had heard in the small L.A. church on Sunday. “Consider it pure joy when you face trials.” This was a trial, but joy was not on his mind. Revenge was. Or maybe, more appropriately, justice, but either way it involved the guilty being caught and punished and Colt knew it would consume him.

---Results---
Krissy is going to receive more threats to back off the investigation. What should the next threat be?
A) Pictures of her parents delivered to her at the police station - 42%
B) Slashed tires on her car - 42%
C) A phone call - 14%